An electronic assembly includes one or more conductive clamps (302, 304, FIG. 3), which are used to supply current to an integrated circuit (IC) package (308). The conductive clamps are attached to a printed circuit (PC) board (312), which supplies the current to the IC package over one clamp, and receives returned current from the IC package over another clamp. Each clamp contacts a contact pad (330) on the surface of the PC board, and contacts another contact pad (334) on the top surface of the IC package. Vias (338, 339) and conductive planes (340, 342) within the package then carry current to and from an IC (e.g., IC 306) connected to the package. In another embodiment, the clamp (904, FIG. 9) holds a conductive structure (902) in place between the PC board contact pad (908) and the IC package contact pad (914), and current is carried primarily over the conductive structure, rather than over the clamp.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An electronic assembly comprising: a first clamp, attached to a substrate, which extends upward from a top surface of the substrate and contacts a first portion of a top surface of a housing, wherein the first clamp enables current to be supplied from the substrate to the housing; and a second clamp, attached to the substrate, which extends upward from the top surface of the substrate and contacts a second portion of the top surface of the housing, wherein the second clamp enables the current to be returned from the housing to the substrate.
2. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first clamp and the second clamp are electrically conductive, and the current is supplied to the housing through the first clamp and the current is returned from the housing through the second clamp.
3. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the first portion of the top surface of the housing includes a first conductive contact pad, which conducts the current from the first clamp to one or more power planes within the housing, and the second portion of the top surface of the housing includes a second conductive contact pad, which conducts the current from one or more ground planes within the housing to the second clamp.
4. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a printed circuit board, and the housing is an integrated circuit package, and wherein the first clamp and the second clamp provide a normal force to the top surface of the integrated circuit package in a downward direction.
5. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first clamp and the second clamp each comprise: a contact plate, which is attachable to the substrate; a spring arm, connected to the contact plate; and a contact flange, connected to the spring arm, which makes contact with the top surface of the housing when the contact plate is attached to the substrate.
6. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the contact flange exerts a high normal force on the top surface of the housing when the contact plate is attached to the substrate.
7. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: a first conductive structure, having a first end that is held in contact with the substrate by the first clamp, and having a second end that is held in contact with the top surface of the housing by the first clamp, wherein the current is supplied from the substrate to the housing through the first conductive structure.
8. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising: a second conductive structure, having a third end that is held in contact with the substrate by the second clamp, and having a fourth end that is held in contact with the top surface of the housing by the second clamp, wherein the current is returned from the housing to the substrate through the second conductive structure.
9. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the first conductive structure is formed from a flexible structure that includes multiple conductive paths that are electrically isolated from one another, and a first set of the multiple conductive paths are used to supply the current to the housing, and a second set of the multiple conductive paths are used to return the current from the housing.
10. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the first portion of the top surface of the housing includes multiple conductive contact pads, and some of the multiple conductive contact pads conduct the current from the first set of the multiple conductive paths to one or more power planes within the housing, and others of the multiple conductive contact pads conduct the current from one or more ground planes within the housing to the second set of the multiple conductive paths.
11. The electronic assembly as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: one or more additional clamps, attached to the substrate, which extend upward from the top surface of the substrate and contact additional portions of the top surface of the housing, wherein each of the one or more additional clamps enable the current to be supplied from the substrate to the housing or enable the current to be returned from the housing to the substrate.
12. An integrated circuit package upon which an integrated circuit is connected, the integrated circuit package comprising: one or more power planes, which electrically connect to the integrated circuit; one or more first vias extending from the one or more power planes to a first portion of a top surface of the integrated circuit package; a first contact pad on the top surface and electrically connected to the one or more first vias, which conducts current from a first clamp to the one or more first vias, wherein the first clamp contacts the first contact pad and attaches to a substrate, enabling current to be supplied from the substrate to the first contact pad; one or more ground planes, which electrically connect to the integrated circuit; one or more second vias extending from the one or more ground planes to a second portion of the top surface; and a second contact pad on the top surface and electrically connected to the one or more second vias, which conducts the current from the one or more second vias to a second clamp, wherein the second clamp contacts the second contact pad and attaches to the substrate, enabling the current to be returned from the second contact pad to the substrate.
13. The electronic circuit package as claimed in claim 12 , further comprising one or more additional contact pads on the top surface and electrically connected to one or more additional vias and one or more additional planes within the electronic circuit package, wherein one or more additional clamps contact the one or more additional contact pads, enabling the current to be supplied to or returned from the electronic circuit package.
14. The electronic circuit package as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the first clamp and the second clamp exert a high normal force on the first contact pad and the second contact pad, respectively, resulting in low contact resistances between the first clamp and the first contact pad and between the second clamp and the second contact pad.
15. The electronic circuit package as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the electronic circuit package is a pinned package.
16. The electronic circuit package as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the electronic circuit package is a ball grid array package.
17. The electronic circuit package as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the electronic circuit package is a land grid array package.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
June 29, 2001
July 1, 2003
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